CU enrollment up 2.5 percent

University hails biggest, brainiest freshman class

By Julie Hutchinson, Special to the Rocky

Published September 19, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Matt Mcclain / The Rocky

University of Colorado students Meghan Ecklund and boyfriend Andrei Hetman say goodbye between classes Thursday on the Boulder campus, home to 29,709 students.

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The University of Colorado freshman class is the biggest, brainiest and most diverse in history, CU officials announced Thursday.

In addition, overall growth at the state's flagship school in Boulder outpaced its rival four- year colleges in Colorado.

Enrollment at the Boulder campus increased 2.5 percent to a record high of 29,709 students.

At Colorado State University, numbers were flat. Enrollment declined 2.2 percent at the University of Northern Colorado, while Metropolitan State College of Denver increased by 1.2 percent.

Almost half of CU's 5,833 freshmen are from out of state, "proof that CU is firmly centered as a national, comprehensive research university with a strong reputation across the country and the world," CU Boulder Chancellor G.P. Bud Peterson said in a statement.

The average high school GPA is 3.57 and the average SAT score 1177 - each an all-time high for the Boulder campus.

"This is truly historic progress," Peterson said.

The news was especially welcome in context of CU's recent troubles.

The 2003 Princeton Review ranked CU the No. 1 party school in the country. Then CU was rocked by a recruiting scandal in its athletic department and endured more bad publicity when professor Ward Churchill was fired in 2007 following a two-year investigation that drew national attention.

Skip Zickmund, director of guidance for 14 years at Denver's Mullen High School, a coed Catholic school with 978 students, said he's not surprised CU is counting record numbers of students.

"I think CU did a good job of reinventing themselves to a large variety of students," Zickmund said.

"They really struggled to get past that reputation and put forth what they're really good at," Zickmund said. The school overhauled its recruiting materials and reached out to high school guidance counselors in the state one-on-one.

"To their plus, they've become very accessible to us," Zickmund said.

Mullen guidance counselor Jeannie Champlin said it's simply a matter of "once seeing CU as a party school as opposed to an academic place now."

Kevin MacLennan, CU's director of admissions, said the battering the school took in bad publicity over the past seven years may have ended up making it a better place.

In the midst of the struggle, MacLennan said, former CU President Hank Brown counseled the faculty and staff that "sometimes what comes out of great controversy is an institution that is much stronger as it comes out the other side. We've always been a good institution but we've become a much stronger institution."

Space is tight

Because the Boulder campus had planned for 5,750 freshman, not 5,833, it was forced to put up some students at a nearby hotel for a short time.

"It generally takes us a week to two weeks from the start of move-in to shake out who's going to stick around," Hilliard said. "During that time we try to make arrangements for everybody."

Hilliard said CU spent $2 million hiring additional instructors for core-curriculum classes for freshmen such as introductory mathematics and writing. Although space always is tight, Hilliard said, the university found the classroom space.

Katie Irvine, a sophomore psychology major, said the Boulder campus did feel overrun with freshmen at the start of the semester, but not necessarily now.

Drawbacks to higher enrollment, she said, are big lecture classes and competition to get into them.

"I've heard a couple professors talk about how big their lecture classes are," said Irvine. "I've also heard some (students) whining about being wait-listed or not being able to get into classes."

Irvine, from Centennial, agrees CU is working hard to reverse its reputation as a party school, including cracking down on alcohol in dorms and constantly educating students about the dangers of drinking.

"But I think a lot of people still come here" to party, Irvine said, adding that by age 18 and 19, "their minds are already made up about how they deal with drinking."

Gains in Denver, Springs

Boulder's sister campuses in Denver and Colorado Springs, posted gains also.

Scores of schools, including the University of Southern Mississippi, Indiana University, the University of California at Davis and the University of Cincinnati are reporting record-setting numbers of students this fall.

Analysts say public universities always experience enrollment increases in a tight economy, In addition, the number of high school graduates rose in 2007.

The U.S. Census Bureau projects the number of students enrolling in public universities will continue to increase every year through 2016, the last year for which projections are available.

CU snapshot: fall 2008

* Enrollment: 29,709

* Most popular undergraduate major: psychology, with 1,788 students

* Avg. SAT score of incoming freshmen: 1,177

* Freshmen of color: 931, up 60 from last year

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